Shirin Ebadi

Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer, accepted the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday, declaring that the award would inspire women across the Muslim world to fight for equality in oppressive, patriarchal societies. But Ebadi, who has represented political prisoners and the victims of political violence in Iran, avoided sharp criticism of the Islamic government there and delivered her most pointed rebuke instead to the United States for what she called human rights abuses carried out in the name of the war on terrorism.

The Nobel Peace Prize has renewed prestige in my book. No, not because Barack Obama won it for accomplishments to be determined later. It's got new luster because Shirin Ebadi has, at great personal risk, effectively come out for regime change in her native Iran. Ebadi, who won the Peace Prize six years ago (under the old rules whereby recipients were expected to do something to earn the prize before receiving it), is Iran's premier human rights lawyer. In an interview with the editors of the Washington Post, Ebadi "suggested that the nature of Iran's regime is more crucial to U.S. security than any specific deals on nuclear energy."

Dear President Ahmadinejad, Sir, you recently sent an 18-page letter to your American counterpart, the first such missive the U.S. government has received from your country since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Your government spokesmen said it suggested "new solutions" to the nuclear crisis that your continued enrichment of uranium has provoked. While it is a godsend for those who desperately seek out long, rambling dissertations on history, religion, philosophy and bizarre Sept. 11 conspiracy theories, new solutions are hard to find in it. Perhaps we missed a page.

Dear President Ahmadinejad, Sir, you recently sent an 18-page letter to your American counterpart, the first such missive the U.S. government has received from your country since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Your government spokesmen said it suggested "new solutions" to the nuclear crisis that your continued enrichment of uranium has provoked. While it is a godsend for those who desperately seek out long, rambling dissertations on history, religion, philosophy and bizarre Sept. 11 conspiracy theories, new solutions are hard to find in it. Perhaps we missed a page.

As a judge in Iran before the revolution of 1979, Shirin Ebadi stayed away from politics. But when the Islamic revolution came, she embraced the cause, joining the Ministry of Justice's strike committee and musing about creating an Iran that would rival the most open Western democracy. The embrace was not returned. The ruling clerics who created the Islamic Republic decreed that women were too "emotional" to be judges. Ebadi, who had been one of the first Iranian women to be made a judge, was demoted to legal assistant.

The Nobel Peace Prize has renewed prestige in my book. No, not because Barack Obama won it for accomplishments to be determined later. It's got new luster because Shirin Ebadi has, at great personal risk, effectively come out for regime change in her native Iran. Ebadi, who won the Peace Prize six years ago (under the old rules whereby recipients were expected to do something to earn the prize before receiving it), is Iran's premier human rights lawyer. In an interview with the editors of the Washington Post, Ebadi "suggested that the nature of Iran's regime is more crucial to U.S. security than any specific deals on nuclear energy."

Ever wonder what happened to the State Department's chief of propaganda? The head of public diplomacy was supposed to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim street. After all that fanfare, the PR seat has been empty lo these many months. Is it possible that no one wants to be chief flack for the gang that couldn't shoot straight? Let's take the bungled case of Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. This Iranian dissident is being prevented from publishing her memoirs in the United States because of regulations that prohibit "trading with the enemy."

An Iranian appeals court has agreed to review the eight-year prison term handed out last month to Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, her father said Wednesday. Reza Saberi said the family had been informed that the court would hear his daughter's appeal next Tuesday. A judiciary spokesman, Alireza Jamshidi, confirmed that the case would be reviewed. The announcement was made after the Saberi family agreed to hire a new lawyer to replace the team led by Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel laureate and prominent human rights advocate.

Feb. 18: A mentally ill man intent on committing suicide set a blaze on a train in Joongang Station in South Korea, killing 198 people. The man, identified as Kim Dae-han, 56, survived. March: Cuba begins massive sweeps against the country's emerging dissident groups, arresting more than 75 and shutting down the offices of independent journalists. In all, 75 dissidents were convicted and sentenced shortly after the March sweeps, some getting as much as 25 years behind bars. May 10: A package bomb kills 13 in a marketplace in the Philippines.

The case of a 9-year-old girl starved and beaten to death in the home of her abusive, divorced father has forged a powerful new movement that is openly challenging certain laws of the strict Islamic Republic for the first time. The burgeoning cause is striking hard at the judicial system's strict interpretation of Islamic law, which treats women as legally inferior to men, especially in child custody cases. By law, men automatically are given custody of the children if they so choose.

Ever wonder what happened to the State Department's chief of propaganda? The head of public diplomacy was supposed to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim street. After all that fanfare, the PR seat has been empty lo these many months. Is it possible that no one wants to be chief flack for the gang that couldn't shoot straight? Let's take the bungled case of Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. This Iranian dissident is being prevented from publishing her memoirs in the United States because of regulations that prohibit "trading with the enemy."

Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer, accepted the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize on Wednesday, declaring that the award would inspire women across the Muslim world to fight for equality in oppressive, patriarchal societies. But Ebadi, who has represented political prisoners and the victims of political violence in Iran, avoided sharp criticism of the Islamic government there and delivered her most pointed rebuke instead to the United States for what she called human rights abuses carried out in the name of the war on terrorism.

As a judge in Iran before the revolution of 1979, Shirin Ebadi stayed away from politics. But when the Islamic revolution came, she embraced the cause, joining the Ministry of Justice's strike committee and musing about creating an Iran that would rival the most open Western democracy. The embrace was not returned. The ruling clerics who created the Islamic Republic decreed that women were too "emotional" to be judges. Ebadi, who had been one of the first Iranian women to be made a judge, was demoted to legal assistant.

A prosecutor has ordered the closure of two newspapers that reported last week on a trial involving a case in which he was alleged to have been involved. The prosecutor, Said Mortazavi, shut down Jomhouriat, which had published for only 12 days, and Vaghayeh Ettefaghieh over their coverage of the trial of an intelligence agent accused of beating and killing a Canadian photographer at a Tehran prison last year. Mortazavi, who supervised interrogations at the prison, has been accused by Canadian authorities of having a role in the slaying.

Iranian television on Monday aired images of two imprisoned Americans for the first time and said it will show a documentary Wednesday that includes confessions by scholar Haleh Esfandiari, of Potomac, Md., and New York-based social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh. The brief video clips included apparent excerpts from the larger effort, titled "In the Name of Democracy," in which both make statements about their activities. The Tehran government claims their efforts are designed to undermine its national security and foment nonviolent revolution.